Friday, July 18, 2008

Corporate responsibility a crucial element for Ricoh Malaysia

RICOH (M) Sdn Bhd sees corporate responsibility (CR) as a crucial element in its business processes and corporate values to make it a business partner of choice for other organisations, says business development division unit head Frankie Yun.

“Ethical business practices as well as social and environmental standards are now being looked upon as pre-conditions for doing business, especially international business.

“Companies should no longer look upon CR as being a part of any legal requirement. Besides profits, companies are also expected to focus on people and the planet,” he told StarBiz.

Ricoh Malaysia is one of the partners for the StarBiz-Institute of Corporate Responsibility (ICR) Malaysia awards presentation dinner on Aug 22. It is a CR Event Supporter under the workplace category.

“Ricoh Malaysia believes CR should be an integral part of a company’s values and conduct. As an event supporter, our objective is to assume responsibility for CR and highlight its importance to corporate Malaysia,” Yun said.

Frankie Yun

The office equipment maker has established a Corporate Social Responsibility Charter and Responsible Activities as a Corporate Citizen as CR initiatives.

These are summarised in four areas: integrity in corporate activities, harmony with the environment, respect for people and harmony with society.

According to Yun, the essence of the CR initiatives is to promote a CR-driven organisation and enable Ricoh Malaysia to gain society’s trust thus resulting in steady growth and development for the group.

Some of Ricoh Malaysia’s CR activities include turtle preservation, tree and mangrove replanting, beach cleaning as well as recycling toner cartridges and bottles into benches.

In addition, Ricoh Malaysia has also put in place many employee welfare programmes.

As part of its Integrity in Corporate Activities initiative, Ricoh Malaysia has embarked on achieving the ISO 27001:2005 certification under Information Security Management System (ISMS) by this fiscal year.

“This will help to enhance the security of our information management system and also the protection of personal information.

The group is also expanding its CR initiatives to include business partners and educational facilities as part of its efforts to create a sustainable society.

This is reflected in the group’s latest effort with Inti International University College for the setting up of an E-Resource Centre within the campus to expose students to real life business environments.

Yun said this would provide and equip undergraduates with the relevant technical skills and exposure to cutting-edge information and communications technology.